As Strange As It Seems
by crimson L
Summary: It was dark, the rain was a blanket that wrapped itself around anything its hands could reach. A soaked pink head bobbed in and out of view of the café window... Sakura/Gaara...


Prologue:

It was dark, the rain was a blanket that wrapped itself around anything its hands could reach. A soaked pink head bobbed in and out of view of the café window, catching the attention of a man sitting inside by the window. As a matter of fact he was the only person in the shop as the electricity had turned off after the sky roared out its protest. All the customers had fled in hopes of getting to their car and home safely before it set in for the afternoon.

This particular man however, simply ignored the black out, content to simply sip his flat white and stare blankly out the window. That was of course until the pink head had made a mad dash strait to the café. _His _café.

The bell chimed out its sweet tune as the door swung open and shut smoothly. A puddle following the lady with the long pink hair as she stepped further into the shop, the remnants of the news paper she had tried to use as a shield now coating her hands and part of a page had stuck to her jacket's shoulder.

Stepping further into the shop, she found a rather peculiar looking man calmly sipping at his coffee staring straight at her with a passive face. Breathing heavily she dropped her black case at her feet and peeled off the paper that had glued itself down. Sighing when the page pulled off in pieces, she pulled the long black jacket off and threw it over a nearby chair.

The man with the bright red hair studied the woman in front of him: early twenties, long and extremely thin, dressed in a white button up blouse and a tight black skirt that went to her knees, obviously worked in a business of some sort. Absently he wondered how she had run in the first place, with her skirt being so tight.

Standing up he made his way into the kitchen and grabbed a towel, throwing it at her when he resurfaced, then returned to his seat and continued sipping his coffee.

The woman caught the towel and in silence began to dry herself off as best she could. After ringing her glorious pink locks out she made her way to the table and quietly sat down opposite to the man. The place was called 'the coffee shop', she had always looked inside and thought it nice but never went in, she was always too busy. The worst part was that she didn't live to far away, just a block over in a decent apartment. The rain had caught her off guard, she would have stayed at the office and finished her paper work instead of trying to make it to her apartment. She had always liked to walk and her work was only six blocks away, what she couldn't understand was why she hadn't of just grit her teeth and gotten home, she was already soaked. But a blob of red had caught her attention and her mind had bogged over with a peculiar curiosity and, well, before she knew it she was inside absently peeling off the drenched newspaper.

Another loud rumble emitted from the sky startled her from her reverie and caused the man to turn his attention to her once again. His blue eyes bore strait into her and goose bumps erupted over her body.

"Your cold" he stated, his deep voice sounding strange and incredibly loud in the deserted café.

Blinking rapidly she glanced down at her arms and had to wonder if the goose bumps were caused by this mysterious brooding stranger or the cold air in the shop on her cold exposed arms. She supposed it was the latter although some strange voice in the back of her head said that she hoped it was the first.

Glancing around she noticed that there was a stereo near the black counter and that the entire shop was decorated in either black or red, her two favorite colors, though she never wore red, almost all her walls in her apartment were a rich blood red color.

Turning her attention back to the male she had a chance to study him as he pulled the dry jacket he was wearing off his shoulders, smoothly handing it over to her. His angular face and sculpted nose seemed so unearthly in the dull grey light, and the black rings around his eyes was something that she had somehow managed to miss earlier, his scruffy red locks flowed over his forehead and she caught the sight of a tattoo or scar when he turned his head towards her.

Smiling she grabbed the jacket that was handed to her and pulled it on quickly, noticing just now how cold she really was.

"Thank you, my name is Sakura, Haruno Sakura" she whispered, afraid that speaking to loudly would shatter the image of his face in her mind.

"Sabaku no Gaara" he replied just as quietly.

Turning his face back to the window he had this strange feeling that he should speak to her. Like the words were already in his mouth ready to jump out, only he didn't know what they were. There were a million and one questions that he could ask and somehow, for the life of him, he couldn't find even one to say without feeling a fool.

When he closed his eyes he could picture the color of her eyes, the shape of her nose, the curve of her lips… and when he opened his eyes her image would slowly fade and retreat to the corner of his eye, were no matter how hard he tried the image would tease and elude him till he closed his eyes once more.

Sighing loudly he turned to his newly found companion, gesturing for her to follow. Standing he made his way over to the door and locked it, turning the sign to 'closed', he didn't miss the nervous longing glance she cast to the door handle and couldn't blame her, he was a stranger after all. Leading her up the stairs at the back of the kitchen he opened another door that led to his apartment. Motioning for her to come in and shutting the door after she did.

He walked silently to his cupboard in his room and pulled out an old shirt and a pair of black jogging pants. He threw them to her and pushed her silently into the bath room. After she had gone in and he had heard the door lock he wondered over to his lounge room and sat quietly in a chair, once again looking out the window, wondering why he had felt so inclined to help the mysterious creature in his bathroom.

What had she been _thinking_? She had watched him lock the front door and had then proceeded to _willingly_ follow him into his apartment, which was very much to her liking but that wasn't the point. Sighing she jumped in the shower letting the hot water bounce off her shoulders and onto the black tiles of his bathroom. Sighing again she cursed her blind trust of strangers, it would seem that she would follow anybody into their homes while they locked the doors behind her. She was trapped. Still, she didn't _feel_ trapped, her mind kept screaming that one word over and over but she didn't _feel _trapped and that fact bugged her.

Turning off the water she dressed in the large old clothes that the man- gaara- had given her. Unlocking the door she made her way into what seemed to be his bedroom. It was incredibly messy, but hers was the same so she didn't mind. Quietly searching his small apartment she found it was only a largish living/lounge room, a bed room with a bathroom off it, a kitchen and a small laundry/storage area. All the walls were painted black which seemed to close in the tiny space even more and it was messy all over the apartment.

Throwing her clothes into the dryer she ambled out of the laundry and made her way into the lounge room, there she was met with the sight of gaara sleeping in a chair next to the window and two mugs of coffee next to him on a small coffee table.

Quietly she tip-toed over to him and surveyed the room, judging from his house it seemed that he was a very quiet, very lonely soul. It was the same vibe she got from her own home and found that she wanted to help this stranger. Pulling over a second chair she placed it next to the one already occupied and went searching for blankets. In the end she pulled the cover off his bed and dragged it to the window somehow without breaking anything.

She pulled the coffee table back and pushed her chair closer to his. Sitting heavily down in the chair she manipulated the blanket so it stretched over them both and settled down into her chair.

Before her eye lids slid closed completely she wondered if he would mind her sleeping here and was drowsily surprised to find that she hoped wholeheartedly that he didn't mind at all.

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So that was all I got today (tonight)…should I continue?!? Or not? U decide and read and review Please!

(Please no flames though…)

Over and out people!

-hippie-ninja


End file.
